Global supplier of promotional merchandise Outstanding Branding are once again at the forefront of industry developments by launching a Graduate Training Scheme for Promotional Merchandise Account Executives.

‘Anyone who knows us will know how passionate we are as a business about maintaining and raising standards in our industry,’ explains Sarah Penn, Chief Executive Officer. ‘We love our industry and want to play our part in helping create the next generation of promotional merchandise professionals. By launching our 2016 Graduate Training Programme, we hope to bring on three recent graduates, and in an intensive 12 week training course, give them all the knowledge, skills and expertise they need to join our team and become amongst the best sales people in the industry. It’s our dream to present selling promotional products as an exciting career choice, not just something people fall into by chance.’

The candidates will be whittled down by a series of interviews and an assessment open day, where it is hoped three star graduates will be offered the opportunity to join Outstanding Branding.

‘Putting this training course together is no mean feat,’ comments Andy Thorne, Sales & Marketing Director. ‘Fortunately we have as always the support of our fantastic supply chain, who are going to provide training materials, site and factory visits, and of course their time and knowledge. Each of our Graduate Trainees will be required to pass the BPMA TPM training course during their 3 month training period; as well as succeed at our internal training programme which covers everything from printing processes, product knowledge and sales techniques, through to customer service, supply chain partnerships and compliance. By training these new sales people to thoroughly understand our industry before they even pick up a phone, we hope to make them highly successful and a pleasure for our suppliers to deal with.’

As Outstanding Branding continues to grow, their plans for this programme are not limited to the UK. ‘Our vision ultimately is to roll out this programme yearly, not just for our London office, but also in our US and Hong Kong offices. To be able to offer our clients continuity of service, culture and knowledge across the globe is our ultimate aim,’ comments Sarah Penn. ‘This would really give our clients the confidence to know they’re being looked after the OB way, wherever they are in the world’.

Anyone interested in the Scheme can visit bit.ly/obgraduate to find out more.